About the work
Entertaining Mr Sloane, translated into German as "Seid nett zu Mr. Sloane," is a three-act play by the British playwright Joe Orton and his first full-length stage work. It premiered on 6 May 1964 at the New Arts Theatre in London; the German-language premiere followed on 2 November of the same year at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, directed by Hans Lietzau.
Plot
The young Mr Sloane rents a room from the lonely Kath and her nearly blind father Kemp, soon becoming Kath's lover while her homosexual brother Ed hires him as a chauffeur. When Kemp recognises Sloane as the man who once killed his employer, Sloane beats him to death. Kath and Ed cover up the killing, unwilling to give Sloane up, and agree to share him between them from then on.
Cultural significance
By openly portraying homosexuality, still a criminal offence in Britain at the time, the play made a provocative start to Orton's brief but influential career; it transferred to Broadway in 1965 and was filmed in 1970.